Achcharu Kottu Union

Kottu, as we all know begins its journey with a square unit of dough made from flour, that is stretched, pulled, twirled and suspended twirling fleetingly in mid air, until translucent, then whacked on the hot plate for a minute or two. This then goes through the ‘cutting to pieces’ process and joined later by other bits and pieces to become, the unique kottu.

Cutting and amalgamating of interesting elements make it a tempting and scrumptious delight of its own you can enjoy without any added extras, except for the indulgent sorts who will need a dollop of sauce on the side.

Talking about added extras, what about achcharu? I find it hard to believe anyone will want that combo except a pregnant woman going through a period of weird cravings.

Rather like cyber Kottu, we all partake in this space. We all know what Kottu is and how to enjoy it. We can use it or explore it. We can have a browse and say ‘skip’ this one, ‘do not even bother’ with that one; hmm… this one looks interesting ‘let’s try it’. We might like it, then again, we might not. Some will need a grain of salt to swallow in the tasting process. We think we don’t need anything else to enjoy it.

Similar to tasting Kottu’s edible counterpart I’d say.

About Achcharu – what exactly is the purpose of Achcharu with Kottu excluding for pregnant women? Where is the flavour in the amalgamation route? How do you enjoy while tasting it?

Instead of sending a straightforward Q of “What is the purpose of achcharu website?” to indi@indi.ca why did I dawdle?

…….. because letters and words in the English language will not wear with wanton use.

In addition to that, as nothing is left untouched in the slicing process of Kottu, I thought, ‘why not have a dab along with the uninhibited sector and inquire in the form of a colourful query’

Furthermore additionally, on top of the previous addition, I can say I have a blog entry.

I think they share the fact that they are both places in which to find Sri Lankan blogs but there the similarity ends. Ach is a very interactive place and far more intricate than Kottu. Kottu is great too, just different.

The purpose of Achcharu, superficially, is to provide more or less the same service as Kottu. If all you want to do is read blog entries; there is no difference. Use one or the other. Hell, use both. The only differentiator is which interface you prefer. I prefer the Achcharu interface because it lets me scan lots of entries quickly. Some people find that layout messy. Pick whichever works for you.

Achcharu does a bit more than just displaying blog entries. Anyone can comment on any blog entry – in the form of a “tag”. You can also pick which entries you want to see; and which ones you don’t want to see. You can highlight “interesting” (to you) entries, you can be notified when certain entries (again, you decide which ones) appear – I’m told some people actually receive these notifications to their phones, although you don’t need to do that. You can be like normal people and just get an email. You can check the number of comments already made against certain blog entries (in case you’re in a mood to follow people arguing over politics or the origin of blinis). There are more features tucked away here and there, but I guess you can read the docs to discover those if you want.

To me, Kottu is a glossy magazine you can pick up from a newsstand. It’s very shiny and nice – but you can’t actually do anything except flip through the pages looking for something of interest. Achcharu is your own personal little etch-a-sketch for blogs. You can make Achcharu show stuff that you want to see. You can have more information against each blog entry (comments, tags, previous visitors) to decide if you want to visit or not. Actually, I built it for myself because I didn’t like the limitations of the Kottu interface – but I’m informed that a few others like it too.

I could be wrong but the vast majority of Achcharu users aren’t pregnant women. If I am wrong, then those people have been holding out on me. And ummm… you don’t need to be pregnant to enjoy achcharu (the real thing). I hope that helps. Incidentally, indi has no involvement in what Achcharu does or doesn’t do.

Drac,
Thanks for the clear and detailed explanation on which does what and who is in charge of each. Now my head is similar to achcharu. I will taste it slowly until I get the hang of it.
Thank you again, for taking the trouble to explain. Much appreciated.